President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. intends to expand the relations between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia to cover other areas of cooperation even as the two nations maintain a successful collaboration.

“I know your time here is very productive. Our relation with your country is as strong as ever been and I think we will continue. We keep going and we have begun many things as well just during my time here as President,” President Marcos said during a farewell call by Saudi Arabia Ambassador Hisham Sultan Abdullah Alqahtani on Thursday.

“So we would like to continue and make even deeper and more involved together with the kingdom and hopefully we can expand on all of the things that we’re already doing. This is all happened under your watch,” the President said.

The President said the discussions with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and the other officials tackled some of the most important matters. He stressed the “very good partnership” created between the two countries.

He acknowledged Saudi Arabia’s position in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which, he said, was helpful for the peace effort in Mindanao.

“We are now getting closer and closer to actually having an autonomous region with elective parliament members. And (we’re) working very hard to make sure that it will be a successful effort. It’s so important now that we do that. But again, not just the OIC but also Saudi Arabia has been so supportive of everything that we have been trying to do,” President Marcos told the Saudi official.

For his part, Alqahtani thanked the President for meeting him prior to his departure. The Saudi envoy made huge success in his efforts for three and a half years to make the relations between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia even stronger.

He also acknowledged that Filipinos became an important part of Saudi Arabia’s development especially in the last 40 years until now.

“We will not forget them. The development there in Saudi Arabia came with the Philippines also. It’s a common relation, common interest together with the Philippines. And we want to thank you His Excellency, the government, the DFA about the full support in our work especially in support at the international organization,” Alqahtani said.

And as Saudi Arabia is preparing to host the World Cup in 2030, Alqahtani said the kingdom will need skilled Filipino workers particularly in building mega projects in Jeddah and the north of Saudi Arabia such as the Red Sea and the rail and line projects.

President Marcos said the Philippines could send workers as long as it has available work force. And despite the global competition, Filipinos still have an edge as workers.

There are almost a million Filipinos staying or working

in Saudi Arabia, based on recent data. | PND